Bangor, HA set to face familiar foes in semifinals Teams split during regular season

AUGUSTA – The northern division of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference’s Class A ranks has taken full ownership of the Eastern Maine Class A boys basketball tournament.

But which teams emerge from Wednesday night’s semifinals to play for the regional championship Friday is anyone’s guess.

Both games match teams that split their regular-season meetings, as No. 2 Bangor faces No. 3 Mt. Blue of Farmington at 7 p.m., followed at 8:30 by No. 5 Messalonskee of Oakland against No. 8 Hampden Academy.

Mt. Blue (16-3) brings an eight-game winning streak into the opener, including a 54-46 win over Bangor at Farmington on Jan. 20 and a 69-48 rout of No. 6 Gardiner in last Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Bangor (18-1) has won seven straight since its loss to Mt. Blue, including a 66-49 victory over No. 10 Leavitt of Turner Center in the quarterfinals.

“[Mt. Blue’s] a very good team,” said Bangor senior forward Alex Gallant, who averaged 24.5 points in two games against the Cougars. “We’ve just got to play hard and do everything right. We can’t turn it over, we can’t let their defense make us struggle on offense. We’ve just got to break their press and then settle down and get our offense going.”

The Rams defeated Mt. Blue in their first meeting of the winter, outlasting the Cougars 61-57 in overtime at Red Barry Gymnasium on Jan. 5.

“When we played them the first two times, each game was different,” said Mt. Blue forward Noah Paytas. “The first game we came out and kind of controlled it, and the second game they came out and controlled it and then it went back and forth. Bangor’s a strong team, but we’ve got a lot of speed and a lot of quickness and athleticism. We’ve got the talent to match them.”

Paytas is one of five senior starters for Mt. Blue, which also has gotten a big lift in its earlier meetings against Bangor from sophomore guard Ben Russell. He has averaged a team-best 16 points per game against the Rams – including 19 of 20 shooting from the free-throw line.

“The big thing is they’re a veteran team that plays within itself very well,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed. “They understand how to play, and one thing you can’t do is turn the ball over. We can’t afford to turn the ball over, and we’ve got to take advantage of our size.”

Hampden (11-9) kept alive its hopes for a third consecutive Eastern A championship with an impressive 57-39 victory over top-ranked and previously undefeated Edward Little of Auburn on Saturday night.

In that quarterfinal coach Russ Bartlett’s Broncos shut down EL star Troy Barnies, limiting the 6-foot-7 forward bound for the University of Maine next year to just 10 points on 3 of 12 shooting.

Offensively, Hampden shot nearly 60 percent from the field, with Daniel McCue, Antonio Juco, Justin Brown and Brad Haase all scoring in double figures.

“I’m hoping we can feed off that energy,” said McCue, “and come out for the next game and be running on all cylinders like we did [Saturday night].”

McCue averaged 23.5 points in two regular-season meetings against Messalonskee, a 56-51 victory at Hampden on Jan. 23 and a 73-58 loss at Oakland on Feb. 6. Haase and Brown also averaged in double figures against the Eagles, Haase at 12.5 ppg and Brown at 12.0 ppg.

Messalonskee features 6-4 senior center Eric Taylor and senior guard Matt Natole, who provide coach Tom Hill’s Eagles a potent inside-outside combination. Each has averaged 15 points per game against Hampden, while forwards Nick Ouellette and Orlando Holmes have provided scoring depth.

Natole is one of several solid perimeter shooters for the Eagles, so it’s unlikely Hampden can focus its defense solely on an interior threat like it did against Edward Little.

“They have some tough matchups for us, and they shot very well at home,” said Bartlett.

Messalonskee (15-5) advanced with a 50-49 quarterfinal victory over No. 4 Cony of Augusta in which Taylor scored with 10 seconds left to provide the margin of victory.

“We played Messalonskee twice and we know we can beat them,” said Hampden senior forward Evan Farley. We’ve just got to come out and play like we did [Saturday night] and we can do it.”